MACHINE GUN KELLY - Tickets To My Downfall LP

Label: Interscope

Pop-punk is not as cool as it once was. It’s been two decades since the likes of Blink 182 and Sum 41 took over the mainstream with angsty, hooky radio hits and the yearly scene celebration that was the Warped Tour was finally put out of its misery in 2018. That same year it was revealed that for the first time ever, hip-hop outsold rock in the US and has continued to do so ever since.

But Machine Gun Kelly, the self-titled ‘rap devil’ who spent a majority of his career with the crown of ‘the next Eminem’ thrust upon him, obviously couldn’t give a damn what the rest of the world wants. After four successful albums of emotionally charged hip-hop, his new album ‘Tickets To My Downfall’ is a love letter to all things punk rock.

The self-aware title knows that this move is a risk but the confidence in painting that target on his own back is also what makes this record so brilliant. ‘Tickets To My Downfall’ is an album that not only proves MGK can do whatever the hell he likes, but that also maybe pop-punk still has something important to offer the world.